February 3rd
by WillowC1
Summary: He had dark bags under his eyes. The Idiot Prince worried about him. I looked at him, frowned, and held out the bottle towards him.


_Thanks to RAWRsuzie for beta-ing._

February 3rd

This was something they all had to deal with. Heinkel does. Darius does. And Ed does. How could they not?

The Chimeras have nightmares about what ever freakshow they saw when they were being experimented on. They say they don't remember much though. You don't usually notice, but occasionally they'll wake up in a sweat.

They don't ask for comfort.

We don't give it.

I could actually say I'm kind of curious about what goes on in their heads. Not enough to actually ask them, though. Not that I would get a reply.

But, We move on. And They move on. Everyone's happy. Once we pack up camp everything goes back to normal. For Them, anyway. And me. But I do know that Edward fears the darkness. Or he should.

Maybe not so melodramatic.

But Nighttime is peaceful and dangerous in equal measure.

It is a barrier to those who don't fit in to the outside world. An ultimate shield, you could say, against people who don't understand the 'freedom' of living as an outcast.

It also does its best to tempt you into letting your guard down. Whether from weariness or contentment or fear, it infiltrates. Can crumble even the toughest walls. It gently pulls on you at first, and when you finally think you can rest, can sleep, it decides to sink its claws in.

Maybe not Nighttime specifically, but the sleep that usually accompanies it.

When they first joined me, we traveled through the night to get as far from Bradley as possible. We skirted around Central city and made our way towards Luja, a small town to the west. Unfortunately, we had to pitch camp because there were no cities close enough to stop at. Kind of hard to do with nothing to pitch. Lucky for me, I had just picked up a new lackey who also happened to be an Alchemist! Though if I was honest with myself, I would say that the one person I really wouldn't want to share a brain with, was Ed.

Now here's the point were I get all sappy and go on about his tragic past, his bravery, his endurance.

Right.

It started two days after. His nightmares. I was awake for some reason or another, just sitting and watching.

He sits up. Just a little.

Seems confused for a minute before looking at our 'camp' and sighing. Then he rolls over and lays down again. He goes back to sleep.

The night after that we were in the city. We headed to a bar in the 'free' district. I was hoping to coerce a nice barmaid and win my way into a place to stay for the night. Then I remembered I now have minions. Great. So once again we camped. Right next to the city full of nice warm beds. But, having no money tends to do that to you.

I decided that we should set up a watch in case the Homonculi come after us. Two of us would sleep, while two of us would rest. Every time we camped in the coming months.

The nightmares varied. Sometimes he would sit up gasping and sometimes he would actually fall back asleep afterwards. But very rarely did he not have any at all.

He would always get up in the morning. He never said anything about it. We never said anything about it. It was like some unspoken rule.

_ 'You don't talk about the nightmares.'_

As it progressed, we headed more south. January came, and with it a new cold streak. I caught him rubbing his shoulder more than once, so I started directing us east. we would eventually need to get his automail tuned up.

Can't have a broken pawn, right?

You know, you learn a lot about someone when you spend every second of every day with them. Best to know the strengths and weaknesses of your pieces. Sometimes being a big furry Chimera can come in handy, especially during winter. Sometimes it's useful to have superhuman strength. Sometimes you need to relax with drinks at a bar. Sometimes your Alchemist doesn't participate, even after a particularly bad nightmare. Sometimes you wonder why he doesn't give himself a break and use the mind-numbing effects of the alcohol.

Sometimes you don't want to know. Sometimes _Ling_ didn't want to know.

But they got worse. His nightmares.

To the point where, one night, he _literally_ woke up screaming.

He didn't even pretend that night. He just sat there his arms crossed over his knees. His head on his arms.

Nobody got back to sleep that night.

The Prince got the feeling that this was building up to something. It was the start of February now. We had circled around all the way to a small village in the middle of nowhere out east. It was called Maog.

He had dark bags under his eyes.

The Prince worried about him.

Not in an overly gushy way most humans do. He didn't even tell me that he was. But after last time, I could feel the slight nag of worry for Ed's health. I thought about it and figured that I should probably be -maybe- a little concerned too. To make sure he could still functioned as my Possession, that is.

So when I sent the Chimeras off on an errand that was sure to be annoying and take forever, I took out the bottle I kept in my bag -for emergencies- (why am I wasting it on this?) and popped it open, then sat down across from him in the clearing. He was making sure that the shelter he put up was stable.

When he was done he crossed the clearing to sit down next to the spot where the fire would be. He sighed and leaned against a tree behind him.

I looked at him, frowned, and held out the bottle towards him.

He hesitated, eyeing the bottle warily.

"No thanks."

Not his usual- "I'm underage!" "Don't offer alcohol to a minor!" Go drink yourself into a stupor without me."

Just "No thanks."

Ling agreed with me that he must really have something on his mind to even consider it.

"You look like you could use it, Kid."

Another wary glance at the bottle.

I heaved an inward sigh and brought out the secret weapon. Ling.

The first thing he did was smile and take a swig right out if the bottle.

Ed blinked.

"C'mon Ed! It's not gonna kill you!"

His eyes narrowed.

"You guys are ganging up on me!" He said.

"Nah ah! There's only one of me!"

"You know what I mean!"

Ling raised an eyebrow.

"Well, somethings bothering you."

"Why do you care."

"Oh, now I'm hurt! I just thought you could use a break from your nightmares."

Oops. Ling just broke the rule. I expected Ed to get mad or deny it and go away.

Instead he just scowled and snatched the bottle out of Ling's hand.

He copied Lings movement earlier, drinking straight out of the bottle. I expected him to cough or something but all We got out of him was a grimace before he handed it back.

Ling and Ed took turns drinking back and forth in silence.

After a few minutes He said "My birthday is tomorrow."

He didn't expect an answer. I had a wise-crack in my head but I let Lings mouth censor it for me. He could sense something coming up.

A few more minutes passed in silence.

The bottle was halfway empty now.

"Is that why it got worse?" Ling asked.

Ed took another drink before answering slowly.

"Ten years ago my mom died. Five years ago I ruined our lives. And Al's not here this time."

There was hardly any drink left now.

"I shouldn't be talking to you of all people." He said, shaking his head, "I bet Greed's laughing at me. Or calling me a useless pawn, or something like that."

Ling drank the rest of the bottle in one gulp.

"He actually hasn't said a word."

He looked over at us lazily. The effects of the alcohol were showing as he stood up and ran a hand through his hair. Just then the Chimeras showed back up, loudly crashing into the area, arguing about something unimportant. I immediately took over again, yelling at them to shut up and throwing the empty bottle towards our bag again. I had seen a newspaper earlier today. Tomorrow was February 3rd. So Ed was extra annoying that day, as if to make up for showing the weakness the day before. We all shared a few bottles as Nighttime came again. Drinking and teasing and yelling until the sun came up.

No one slept that night either.

* * *

I found a blown up map of Amestris for the city/town names, but the they were hard to read to I got as close as I could.

_ poster master chef . deviant art art / New-Amestris-Road-Map- 188578589_


End file.
